Blog Out Loud

Look. Listen. Laugh. LOUD.

Buttons for your Blog!

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Does anyone still put buttons in their sidebar? I think I might be the only one :). But in case you’d like to join me, you can grab new buttons for BOLO 2016 below.
There’s a big one:

bigSidebarLogo

<a href="http://blogoutloud.org"><img src="http://www.sweetsmartdesign.com/blogoutloud/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/bigSidebarLogo.jpg"></a>

And a smaller one:

smallSidebarLogo

<a href="http://blogoutloud.org"><img src="http://www.sweetsmartdesign.com/blogoutloud/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/smallSidebarLogo.jpg"></a>

For each, right click to download the image if you’d like to store it locally. Or, just copy the code under each image and paste it into a text widget in your sidebar.

Blog Out Loud 2016

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It’s on! I just got word that BOLO 2016 is a go. More details are coming soon, but I can say it will be part of the Ottawa International Writers’ Festival Spring Edition, and it will likely be sometime on the weekend of April 16/17, and will likely be at the same church as last year (Christ Church Cathedral, but a different room). Confirmation coming soon!

In the meantime, we’re open for submissions. Want to read at the event? Send in your favourite blog post (or two) from the past year. We’re looking for stories told in a distinctive voice that capture a moment or a thought or an idea that reflects YOU. We should hear your voice in the piece. Make us laugh, cry, get angry, or get tense. It’s all good! You can see samples of the posts that have been read in the past here, or here, or here. If you have a post that requires photos or images, we should have a screen and projector available for you to use.

Submissions due by midnight on Tuesday, March 29.

We’re also, as usual, looking for a few dedicated souls (who won’t be submitting) who are willing to serve on the selection panel. That involves reading all the submitted posts over one weekend and sending me some rankings and comments, all for the glory of my mega thanks on this blog. If you’re interested, drop me a line!

Submissions or volunteers or any other inquiries can be sent to me at lynnturtlehead@gmail.com.

A Little Follow Up

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Some of our readers from Blog Out Loud 2015 have their own thoughts up on their own blogs.

See what Ross Brown thought of the evening, along with some of his photos of the night, here.

Allison McCaskill writes about being adorably nervous and getting some great friend support over here.

If you enjoyed Janet Lalonde’s reading (and cartoons), check out her young son’s graphical version of the IKEA shoe loss here.

BOLO 2015 Recap

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Amanda Jette Knox of The Maven of Mayhem

Many, many thanks to everyone who came out last night. As usual it was a ton of fun (and surprisingly emotional!), and a great night to meet other bloggers, and it would not be possible without the Ottawa International Writers’ Festival, our selection panel, the readers, and the totally awesome listeners. Special thank yous to Tanya, who rocked the live-tweeting from the BOLO account on like, three hours of sleep, and Dani, who kept the evening moving and the audience laughing as emcee. You all rock!

Here are the links to the posts that were read last night. And photos too! Slideshow at the bottom of the post.

 

Thanks to all our readers, and if you think you might want to read at or attend a future event, be sure to sign up for the BOLO mailing list to get advance word on all the news.

Photos! Click on any image to enlarge it.

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